In the wrestling ring, Christopher Daniels is the Fallen Angel, a risk taker with plenty of talent. Out of the ring ... well, he's a husband and a daddy. A good guy with dreams. Dreams of taking this wrestling thing as far as he can. Glad that he no longer has to have a "real job" to put bread on the table.

Daniels is the current Total Nonstop Action X Division champion, a title he'll defend on tonight's Lockdown pay-per-view against his long-time tag-team partner Primetime Elix Skipper, boxed in by a "Six Sides of Steel" cage.

"For a long time, I had a regular job, warehouse work," says Daniels over the phone. "But I never made the job my main priority, wrestling was. And I kept it up until wrestling became the job.

"I'm real lucky with the breaks I've gotten. When times were hard, I had somebody there to keep me going. My wife (Lisa) has really been an anchor for me ... she's been very supportive."

The 35-year-old Daniels, who weighs 215 lbs, has an 18-month-old daughter, with another baby on the way. Daniels remembers his first match, in Chicago, when he teamed with Titan to face the Manson Brothers.

"I got beat in real short time," he says. "Pretty well as soon as I got into the ring. But it was just one of those things you have to go through."

Daniels loves what the X Division brings, a fast-paced, unique twist that allows "smaller" wrestlers to strut their stuff.

"The X Division really emphasizes athleticism," says Daniels. "Before I started,I don't think there really was a place for cruiserweights. You had to be 240, 250 or 260 pounds.

"We try to push the envelope and get as close to the limit as we can without getting into danger. I've been fortunate to only have a couple of injuries over the 12 years I've been wrestling ... pulled groin, separated shoulder and I hurt my neck. But 9 out of 10 times you can work through it with just minor discomfort."

- RAW seems to be back on track. Another great show on Monday night. Highlights were the return of Hulk Hogan to help Shawn Michaels against Muhammad Hassan and Daivari, Viscera coming to the aid of Trish against Kane (and securing himself a date tomorrow night in return), the debut of The Heart Throbs, a bloodied Jim Ross pinning Triple H (thanks to some help from Batista) and Shelton Benjamin beating up Simon Dean. Also drawing a huge pop was the return of Vince McMahon, who interrupted Christian to announce that the Draft Lottery would happen in the next month or so. There was also lots of fan love for Matt Hardy, who was released by WWE last week.

- Smackdown! has new tag champs, newcomers MNM, who defeated Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero. Look for the Mysterio-Guerrero feud to sizzle. The Brooklyn Brawler, also returned as a guest of Heidenreich. The old jobber now calls himself The Boston Brawler, tearing off his shirt to reveal a Red Sox jersey. That earned him a beating from new fan fave and poet Heidenreich. Huge Matt Morgan also returned with a stuttering gimmick.